Hello everyone. I wanted to introduce myself and give a little history. I am 41 mother of 2 children( 11 year old and 5 1/2 year old) I developed chronic pain in 2003 I was extremely overweight (315....5'2) Really bad pain in hips and knees. Had WLS 09/2004. Went down to 160 now my pain is even worse and has spread to all my joints and muscles. Was dxed with Fibro 03/2008. Has used many drugs since then...Lyrica(severe reaction was in hospital for 2 weeks) Cymbalta(didnt work) developed tolerance to vicodan/percocet/diladid and methadone. Now I am on Fentinal(sp?) 12mcg. My question is when do I start feeling the benefits? I should say when do they end? I started on Thursday on Friday I actually felt a little better. Went swimming with my children...havent done that in quite a few years. I had this strange sense of well being...I felt awesome. My friend said I may have had a "high" from it. Not too sure what that feels like....never used street drugs and took my other narcotics the way it should be taken. Today(saturday) I feel like a truck has run over me. I feel awful!!! I am snapping at my children again.(I hate that....My 5 year old kind of understand what mommy's is going through...she tries very hard to behave....my 11 year old has autism and doesnt understand what I feel like. Everytime I snap at them I start crying because it is not fair to them. I want to enjoy my children. I am snapping at my husband....which I don't want to be because he is so good to me especially when I am in alot of pain. Enough of this story....

1. Why did I feel so good yesterday and was able to go swimming with my children and even spend time at seaworld with them....and today I feel so awful?

2. How long should I wait before I call my dr and ask him for something else to go along with this to help with the pain?

3. Can I even take other meds while on the patch?

Sorry so long....just really fustrated right now. I want so much to be as close to pain free as possible.

I feel for you. I have been there with the snapping at the small children. I know just what you feel like. I had severe back problems and my girls were 12 and 8 or around that age. At any rate I was in severe pain all the time and lived on percocet every 4 hours around the clock. The only relief for me was floating in the pool on a huge raft. So I did that from morning to night. Finally I had back surgery and went through heck for one more year while in rehab.

You have to give the fentynal a little time, but if you are in severe pain, I would call the doctor and not wait too long. I want you to know that I am praying for you that you find some relief. Don't be too hard on yourself. Your little ones love you and will be ok. Knowing that you are aware is a good thing and will temper you a little. For those times you snap, don't be too hard on yourself. You are only human and are in pain.

I think that you may have had a high from the med that you described too. Give it a chance to work. You may find that you get relief after all. If it doesn't hold you for the full 12 hours or 24 hours depending, then certainly give the doc a call. No sense suffering. Some doctors will prescribe for breakthrough pain, another medication. But ask first! Don't take any meds before talking to the doctor.

Lots of hugs and let us know how you are doing please!! And by the way, welcome, welcome, welcome!!

Lindaloo

Co-Moderator Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia Forums

Believe in yourself. Be kind to fellow humans and animals. Take time to smell the flowers and the coffee.

And by all means, when you are down, ask me for help. I will be there.

I am also new to the forum! Welcome. everyone has been great and supportive here!

I do the exact thing by snapping at my children. IT breaks my heart. I get so sick and irritable, and painful the smallest thing sets me off. I try to explain to my kids (7 and 3) that its not them but its the "tick germs" that are making me sick. I actually take abilify for my irritability and depression and it does help.Did the docs ever find out why you have joint pain? Your post screams lyme disease to me and maybe you should get tested?Lyme disease can cause lots of pains, fatigue and that truck ran over me feeling. IF you want to learn more about Lyme I am happy to help you. I am not a doctor just a patient and support group leader.

As far as the pain meds, I am a rookie there so cant help much there. Hang in there and hope you feel better soon

Welcome, it is very nice to meet you. I do hope you stay, as there are SooOOOo many differant folks here from all walks of life here. I know others have mentioned using the same medacine perhaps they can help answer some of your questions. I can try to help, but im new to many things related to chronic pain.

1. Why did I feel so good yesterday and was able to go swimming with my children and even spend time at seaworld with them....and today I feel so awful?

"Went swimming with my children...havent done that in quite a few years."

Hopefully you just over did it a little, if it persists thou dont hesitate to call your doctor.

2. How long should I wait before I call my dr and ask him for something else to go along with this to help with the pain?

If I have any questions, no matter how small, I ask doctor. None of them ever seem to mind, in fact they seem to apprecite questions. Just ask for when they think you should begin to feel better. Seems everytime ive asked the standard response is "Please call and let us know right away if you have ANY side effects or fever, other wise you should start to feel better in XX number of days."

3. Can I even take other meds while on the patch?

That is another good question to ask them, when you call.

Like I said, I am new to many aspects of pain management so I am sure others will be able to answer you in more detail. But.. I did, however go in to see a pain psychologist. For a very long time. She and I worked on many aspects of chronic pain. We re-defined me. Thank goodness Anyway just a thought. (I too have small children) Again, it is really nice to meet you.

It seems to me you over did your activities yesterday. The meds could be starting to work in turn makes you feel better.

As for the kids I know most of deal with this issues. My three kids are all teenagers now and are very understanding. I also get moody. I read your post to my husband his first comment was "if she didn't snap I would think her pain not that bad" Hes meaning any and all human who experience pain snap, even all animals will become irritable. Yes the kids might not really understand which in my eyes its a good thing. If they understood that means they have felt pain like that. I would never want my kids to feel .001 % of my pain.

They love you! You are their mom and they might be more understanding then you might think

Hi Tonya, Welcome aboard, I'm so glad you found us! There are many here who have similar problems as you and hopefully some will chime in soon. I was using Fentenal patches for a while years ago and I am not a Dr. but my doc had me on percocet for breakthough pain at that time. I didn't like the patches, I live in S. Fla. and I am a big man and sweat alot. Had big pronlems keeping them on. I didn't care for the way they made me feel either. Some people swear by them though and we are all different so the might work great for you, who knows. I agree w/ the others that you probably over did it the other day because you were feeling better, That is something I have had and still do have a problem with! Even though I know what's going to happen later, I still over do things when I'm feeling better! Shame on me! My friends here are constantly reminding me and others but as you know, we all just want to feel the way we used to, even if it's just for a little while, so it's hard not to! Hang in there and give theswe patches a chance and by all means, keep your doc informed on whats going on!Agai welcome and please stick around, you'll love this forum and all the carring people in it!Your Friend,Pete56 years old, Surgury, Radical Prostatectomy 8/20/03, PSA 6.6, Gleason 3 + 3 = 6, Adenocarcinoma extent (moderate) Stage & Margin:T2NOMX, No Metastases, Organ Confined, bone scan: Neg. 3 1/2 years of depression after surgery prior to Hypogonadizm DX, Testosterone Theropy> new 2/6/09> 400mg injections once a month. 56 and so glad to still be here to see my two sons grow up to be fine young men. They are both serving in the US Navy, Joseph is on the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis headed back to Bremerton, Wa. after 8 mo. deployment! and Pete Jr. is on The Asault Ship USS Bataan "The Jaws of the Fleet" on their way to the Middle East w/ 2,000 Marines aboard. I am one very proud (what they call me)> Big Pops!

You guys are so kind. LLPLUV....I appreciate what your husband says....my hubby says the same thing. "If I didnt snap...then he would think I was not in all that much pain." Today was my 2nd patch. It has been really rough...I was on the couch almost all day yesterday and up until noon today. My pain was a 9. Then around noon it dropped down to a 1 I have never had that happen with any meds before. That lasted a good 6 hours and now my pain has shot back to about 7 almost 8. This time I took it easy!! Took my children to the pool and just watched this tim. I will call my dr tomorrow and talk with him. I am liking the patch when I have the pain relief but I can't stand this yo-yo effect. Lindaloo....thanks so much for your kind words. I almost started crying again. Merrygirl.....it is funny you suggest looking into lyme disease. My new PM said the exact same thing. He said it doesnt sound like FM at all but something like lyme disease. He did keep my dx so my insurance company wont be questioning my meds especially if I need to be changing them. Please tell me more about it. Anyway, thank you all for your warm welcomes and suggestions. I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS GROUP!!!

Welcome to the CP board of HW! This is a WONDERFUL place to be when you are in pain & need support, and even just to learn. Of course none of us are docs, nor can we give medical advice, but we as a group have a great wealth of knowledge based on experience. I'm sorry that you are in so much pain, but we are happy to have you as a new member of our little family!

I've been in severe pain from a traumatic eye injury that I had two & a half years ago. We don't know the cause of my continued pain, nor why the function of that eye is progressively deteriorating. Like you, I've been on a bunch of different meds without much success. Unfortunately, at this point we are pretty sure that my body does not have functional opioid receptors, or something along those lines. I'm on fentanyl currently, as well, as a last ditch effort to try to bi-pass my liver & gut, in case the problem lies there, although that does not seem to be the case, because I do not experience any pain relief, side effects, or anything else, from this med either.

As for your questions:1) Although the patches are worn for 3 days (72 hrs), many people only experience controlled pain relief for 48 hrs, so perhaps you are one of these people. If you find that you are consistently feeling some relief on days 1 & 2, but not 3, then you should talk to your doctor about the possibility of wearing the patch for only 48 hrs, instead of 72 (some docs allow this, some do not). Another possibility is that you were starting to feel some relief, and then you really overdid it. Unfortunately, this tends to happen. When we feel good, we want to do as much as possible, to make up for the days we feel lousy & can't do much. However, we often pay for it the next day, by causing increased pain. Even if your meds normally give you some relief, they may not cover the additional pain well. You might want to talk with your doc about "break-though medication," which may be used to help cover any additional pain throughout the day, which your normal meds don't cover. Yet another possibility, is that you did in fact experience some kind of "high," causing you to overdo it. I can't give you any advice or information about this, as I have never once felt a "high" feeling from my meds.

2) I don't know how long you've been on the patch, but you should really give it at least a month or two before you decide whether it helps you or not. It takes several weeks to work your body's way up to being able to maintain a therapeutic level of medication at all times. Also, your doctor may want to adjust your dosages. Just because one dose doesn't help, it does not necessarily mean that a high dosage won't. My doc usually defines a "end point," or a level at which we would stop the medication, if we had increased to such a level over a period of time & I still felt no relief. You should probably discuss your options with your doctor at your next appointment, or sooner, if your truly feel that you are getting no relief & have been on the fentanyl for at least two or three 3 day cycles.

3) Yes you can take other meds while on the fentayl patch. However, you should only take medications prescribed by your doctor, or approved OTC medications.

I hope this helps! I'm no expert, but unfortunately, have had a fair amount of experience with changing meds, over the last year! Keep posting with us!

Sounds like some great advice to me. It's frustrating that we feel almost like we might approach normal one day so off we go and have a blast only to feel like death warmed over for the next several days. Yep, that's over doing it! And no matter how long you have fibro or chronic pain...that's the nature of it. Chronic = long lasting and persistent. For many of us that means a lifetime. I also agree that you are getting the maximum dosage of your meds a few hours after you put on a new patch, then it begins to wear off. It's too bad it can't be more evenly absorbed but that's one problem with trans dermal medications. Have you ever tried, or talked to your doctor about a slow release oral pain medication? There are lots of kinds of those out there too. One thing my doc has always done is have me try several things until we find something that works 'best' and I can tolerate. Often that takes time but at least he and I are doing all we can together.